Process of treating complex refractory ores of silver and gold.



; sists in combining the metalloids with chloore is crushe UNITED STATES Ba'risn'r OFFICE.

COURT C. TITUS, OF HELENA, MONTANA, ASSIGNOB TO MONTANA METALLURGICAL COMPANY, OF HELENA, MONTANA, A CORPORATION OF MONTANA.

PROCESS OF TREATING COMPLEX REFRACTORY OR-ES OF SILVER AND GOLD.

1,111,976, Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing.

]?atented Sept. 29, 1914. Application filed December 14, 910. Serial no. 597,222.

The treatment with chlorin and air is con- To all whom it may concern:

tinned for several hours, the ore meanwhile Be it known t at I, COURT C. -Tiriis,.a

citizen of the United States, residing at gradually moving downward through the Helena, in the county of Lewis and Clarke cylinder and discharging from its lower end. and State of Montana, have invented cer- While the reactions evolve considerable heat.

Proc- Ores following the chlorin from-attacking the iron at the tain new and useful esses of Treating Complex Refractory of Silver and Gold, of which the is a specification. v

U. S. Letters Patent No. 739,374, granted September 22, 1903, to Charles E. Baker and Arthur W. Bur-well, describe a process of treating ores of gold and silver containing base meta s and metalloids, which conrin and vaporizing and separating themet-alloid chlorids from the base metals in the ore. higher temperatures subsequently used. Any iron in the ore is thereby converted into The ore may then be treated in any approprotochlorid, which remains in the mass priate manner to recover the metals, as by under treatment, the supply of chlorin bemagnetically separating the oxidized iron and separately precipitating metals.

and dissolving the chlorinated I claim:

ing so restricted as to revent tion of the more volat le There are however many the producferric chlorid. ores containing silver, lead, zinc, copper, etc., which carry 1. The process of treating ores containing so much iron in the form of sulfid that this iron, another metal, and a metalloid, which rocess is not commercially available for their treatment, on account of theda-rge amount .of chlorin required to combine wit the iron.

I have found that by treating such ores with a. mixture of'chlorin and air, the iron contained therein may be largely converted into its oxid instead of into the chlorid, while the other metals are very completely combined with chlorin.

According to my preferred process, the to about 20 mesh, is dried by consists in agitating and heating the ore an heating it in a rotary drum, and is thence 111 it to a temperature not exceeding 25 delivered into one en of a long narrow C insuflic -ent to cause fusion and agglomer- A mixture of dry chlorin gas and air is introduced into the other en of this cylinder, converting the iron into its oxid and the other metals and the metalloids into their chlorids. he

to an atmosphere oxygen, thereby oxidizing the iron and chlorinating the other metal and the nietalloid, and vaporizing and separating the metalloid chlorid from the metalloids chlorids, e. g., of sulfur, arsenic, oxidized iron and chlorinated metal. or antimony, are volatilized and are either 3; The process of treating ores containing iron, another metal, and a metalloid which er en consists in agitating the ore and finally heatallowed to escape from the upp o the cylinder or are collected and condensed.

In testimony whereof, I afiix in presence of two witnesses.

COURT 0. TITUS.

my signature I Witnesses:

vaponzlng an separatm lorid from IRA T. HIGHT, t e oxidized iron and chlorinate CHARLES E. PEW. 

